On July 4, I ran the Red River Gorge R2R2R2R2R unsupported on the Sheltowee Trace - starting on top of Natural Bridge and running north to the Corner Ridge Road trailhead and back. My goal was to finish in under 8 hours. This route is on trails that I run regularly, so I went in having a pretty good idea of what to expect.
I started shortly before 7 AM, carrying 3 L of water and plenty of snacks. It was not hot out yet, but it was already pretty humid. There were only a handful of people at Natural Bridge when I started, and for a holiday, there really wasn't too much traffic on the trails at all.
The route was pretty straightforward and the trails are well-marked - just follow the turtles that mark the Sheltowee Trace.
I took a little spill on a descent to a small water crossing on the stretch between Bison Way and Lost Branch trails, and even though I only saw a handful of people on this stretch of trail, two women who were thru-hiking the Sheltowee Trace happened to be there to witness it. As I made the final climb toward the Corner Ridge turnaround, I knew I was having some trouble with my Garmin's signal, because it was showing my pace as barely moving even as I was running, so I took some photos of my watch in front of the trail head to mark the time and location there at 10:41 AM.
It started to get pretty hot out on the way back, and my calves started to get a little crampy on the uphill past the intersection with the Bison Way trail, and I passed back my Indian Arch around noon. A few miles later, I stopped for a minute to cool off at a little waterfall on the side of the trail, and dumped the sand out of my shoes that I had picked up back on the Corner Ridge section.
When I topped out at the junction of Rough Trail and Pinchem Tight around 1:40, I was cooked, but I felt like I was finally in the home stretch even though I still had several miles left and the big climb at the end, because I had a nice stretch of relatively easy trail with a nice descent just ahead.
I encountered quite a bit of traffic on the trail once I hit Natural Bridge State Park. I joked with hikers as I made my final climb, assuring them that they were almost there and that the view at the top would be worth it. I finally made it back to the top of the bridge only a little over my goal, with a final time of 8 hours 10 minutes 53 seconds.